Well…I sure didn’t know where I was going when I posted pics taken by Jill a little over a week ago. I have enjoyed telling her story. Have I said how much I love Jill? If I had a plane ticket, I would hop on a plane and go give her a hug, but for now a virtual hug will have to do.

As I shared in the last post, Chris and Jill were told they would not be able to adopt the twins. In addition, they found out they would have to leave Russia, their home for many years. Loss upon loss. I asked Jill to write some thoughts to sum up this story. Here’s her thoughts….

Fast forward 3 years. Is it still painful – yes. Does my heart still hurt – yes. Do I understand why our family went through this – no. Is God sovereign? – YES! Can I give thanks in all circumstances — yes (but it took a while). One quote from Homelife magazine really expresses my feelings. “Our satisfaction is not found in the answer we do or do not receive from God, but in the encounter we have with God because of the question. To embrace the mystery of faith frees us to relax in the unknown – to revel in the sovereignty of God. Answers never satisfy, only God can satisfy.”

Adoption is such a beautiful picture of God’s redemption in our own lives. That is one of the main reasons that Chris and I wanted to adopt a child. Several months after we left Russia we were talking about Andrew and Natasha and wondering how they were doing with their new family in Spain. We heard through the adoption grapevine that they had been adopted by a couple from Spain. We had both come to the conclusion (separately) that we had a better understanding of who God is because of this experience. The pain – literally I felt like my heart was going to burst from sorrow – was so strong about the loss of our children that we had known and courted for a year. This is how God must feel when someone is almost adopted into his family and then snatched away by the evil one.

I think of Natasha and Andrew almost daily and pray for them, for their health, development and adjustment – most importantly their salvation.

I still cling to the that He who started a good work will be faithful to complete it. I really don’t know how this story will be completed by God, but I do trust him in all things. I revel in the mystery of His sovereignty and relax in the unknown!